Egypt sex tourism

After about an hour of playing nickel slots, I managed to cash out the 20 bucks I'd put in the machine and leave with a good sense of the place.

A handful sat at the bar, mostly in pairs, before one drifted off to be replaced by another.

There's a point at which parents get so desperate they sell whatever they can to make ends meet, including their daughters.

I was in Cairo, Egypt, last week, and this topic came up as I was talking to some Egyptians at my hotel.

A flurry of Arabic went back and forth between Ahmed and two other men before the story was eventually explained to me.

Ahmed had been dating a girl from rural Egypt who came to Cairo after the revolution to earn money to send to her family. And he quickly made it clear she floundered at the job: she was unable to demand payment and allowed men to do whatever they liked. Even worse, the girl had disappeared and Ahmed hadn't heard from her in months, until that morning on Facebook.

I told her it was true, that I was a poor American who wasn't even staying in the hotel. Unsure if I was being serious or simply negotiating, she ordered a shot of tequila and I filled in some blanks.

Megan said her mom left her father when she was 14 and he had wanted nothing to do with her.

Inside the Billiard Bar, I thought, was the wife of a gambler or a guest of the hotel.

She was the only one in the place aside from the bartender, and it didn't occur to me anyone would be working the empty room. After a few minutes she was at my table saying yes, she worked at the hotel.

If a young man wants to have sex, he can go to a prostitute.

These days, the least expensive girls are Egyptians who frequent certain coffee shops and apartments dedicated to that purpose.

At about 100 EGP (US), an encounter is something that most employed Cairo men can pay, but it is very expensive, about half of what many bring home each week.